Brent Clarkson, M.Ed.

​I am a 2003 Graduate of Auburn University (War Eagle!) with a BSBA in Information Systems Management. In 2015 I earned my Masters Degree in Education Administration from Lamar University. Currently, I am serving in the role of Assistant Principal at the junior high level outside of Houston, TX. In this position, I have worked under and alongside several amazing leaders who have continuously poured into me, helping to shape how I do the work that I do. While an administrator by title, I am a teacher and student at heart and love to learn. My plan is to pursue my doctorate for the sake of furthering my learning in order to better serve my school community.

Prior to my profession in education, I worked in full-time student ministry. My love for students and a desire to see them grow and reach their goals is why I initially went into education. My passion for helping other educators do the same is what has led me to where I find myself now. As an administrator, I get to serve students, teachers, parents, and community members on a daily basis and I love it! See, part of my story is that I threw in the towel on teaching after four years. Burned out and disconnected, I decided that I had had enough and went in a different direction only to grieve the day that I left the campus setting. After a year of working outside of public education, I was offered an opportunity to get back into the classroom. This is where the platform of Twitter as a professional connecting point came in and turned my teacher world on its head. Since 2013, I have connected, learned, grown, shared, and presented alongside brilliant educators from around the world because of one person who challenged me to get connected.

As a result of some of these connections and efforts to implement technology in meaningful ways, in April 2017, I was fortunate enough to be recognized by the National School Boards Association's Technology Leadership Division as one of the "20 to Watch" educators in educational technology. While I was extremely humbled by this recognition, I love working with other educators to find innovative, meaningful ways to implement technology across classrooms. My goal in doing this is to prepare students for their digital future while providing the best education possible for them in the present.

In the end, nothing is more important in the world of education than fostering healthy, authentic, meaningful relationships between students, teachers, parents, and administrators. If we focus on anything before we begin with the relational piece, our efforts to help students learn and grow will be futile. "Relationships over rules" is how I like to phrase this belief. Yes, the rules are important and need to be adhered to. However, if we don't have the relationships in place, the "rules" don't mean a thing.